April 2018

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10 Things You Don’t Know About Acupuncture A new study shows that acupuncture eases the treatment-induced pain in women with breast cancer. The study, led by University of Pennsylvania researchers, examined the effects of electro-acupuncture, a form of acupuncture in which a small electric current is passed between pairs of needles, in 41 breast cancer patients. Not a fan of needles? You can still get with acupuncture. “Acupuncture needles are different from medical needles in that they are very small, smooth, and conical. They don’t have a sharp edge or a hole inside to cut the skin,” says NYU Langone Medical Center physician Alex Moroz, MD, who combines traditional treatments with complementary healing techniques, including acupuncture, to treat musculoskeletal conditions in his patients. Research published in Acupuncture in Medicine found that ear acupuncture promotes weight loss. Source/Full article: https://www.fitnessmagazine.com/mind-body/feeling/acupuncture/

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When science meets mindfulness (The Harvard Gazette) Researcher Gaelle Desbordes is probing mindfulness meditation’s effect on depression, using functional magnetic resonance imaging to take before and after images of the brains of depressed patients who’ve learned to meditate. After eight weeks of training in mindful attention, meditation note the amygdala is less activated after the meditation training. Courtesy of Gaelle Desbordes In her current work, she is exploring meditation effects on the brains of clinically depressed patients, a group for whom studies have shown meditation to be effective. In the 1970s, when transcendental meditation surged in popularity, HerbertBenson, a professor at Harvard Medical School and what was then Beth Israel hospital, explored what he called ”The Relaxation Response,” identifying it as the common, functional attribute of transcendental meditation, yoga, and other forms of meditation, including deep religious prayer. Recent scientific exploration has largely focused on the secular practice of mindful meditation, but meditation is also a component of several ancient religious traditions, with variations. Source: https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/04/harvard-researchers-study-how-mindfulness-may-change-the-brain-in-depressed-patients/